Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emission control device, a method of controlling the same, a storage medium, and an image pickup apparatus, and more particularly to control of light emission of a lighting device that is capable of changing a direction of light irradiation therefrom.
Description of the Related Art
In general, there has been known so-called bounce flash shooting in which an object is shot, by irradiating light emitted from a lighting device, such as a strobe device, toward a reflection object (bounce surface), such as a ceiling, and illuminating the object by diffusely reflected light from the ceiling. Since the use of the bounce flash shooting makes it possible to indirectly irradiate the light from the strobe device to the object, the object can be rendered in soft light.
For performing such bounce flash shooting, there has been proposed automatic bounce control in which a distance to the object and a distance to the bounce surface are measured, and the direction of irradiating light from the strobe device is automatically controlled to an optimum bounce angle (angle formed by a shooting direction of a camera and a direction of irradiating light from the strobe device). The automatic bounce control is effective for beginners who are unfamiliar with the bounce shooting.
There has also been proposed manual bounce lock (semi-automatic bounce) in which a user designates a bounce angle in advance by manually changing an angle of a direction of irradiating light from the strobe device with respect to a shooting direction of the camera, and in this state, performs bounce shooting. The semi-automatic bounce is effective for users who are familiar with the bounce shooting. In the semi-automatic bounce, an optimum bounce angle is designated by the user himself/herself, and only when the posture of the camera is changed, the bounce angle is corrected according to the posture.
For example, there has been proposed a camera which is configured to automatically determine a bounce angle to perform a bounce operation (Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-163179). In this camera, the user points a photographic lens at a reflection object, and then, first, half presses a release button (first time) for measuring a distance to the reflection object. Further, the user points the photographic lens at an object (shooting object), and then half presses the release button (second time) for measuring a distance to the object.
However, in the camera disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2009-163179, when the posture of the camera is changed from a landscape orientation to a portrait orientation, it is required to measure the distances again to calculate an optimum bounce angle. On the other hand, a case is assumed where the camera is configured to detect a change in the posture of the camera, and automatically drive a strobe emission section such that a direction of irradiating light therefrom always remains the same. In this case, since the automatic bounce control is intended for beginners, it is desirable to automatically drive the strobe emission section whenever the posture of the camera is changed. This not only makes it possible for the beginners to concentrate attention on an object without being conscious of the automatic bounce control but also is effective in a case where the beginners desire to immediately shoot the object (snapshot performance).
However, since the manual bounce control is intended for users who are familiar with the bounce shooting, if the bounce control is performed regardless of a user's will whenever the posture of the camera is changed, this can make the user uncomfortable. For example, the bounce control is performed even in a case where the user inclines the camera to make settings by operating the camera or to confirm an image by checking an image monitor, which can make the user uncomfortable.